Lets go to College

JCHS Senior; Chloe Brookbank and Senior; Matthew Bates, went on college tours to decide where they want to continue their education. Chloe, going to study Psychology, visited the University of IU Southeast. She was fascinated with the school and its small enviornment. She enjoyed how polite everyone on campus was and she said it made her feel very “homey”. She decided on furthering her education at IU Southeast and hopes for a great college experience.  Matthew, longing to become a medical assistant, visited International Business College in Castleton, IN. He was amazed with the fast pace; focus the educators there had towards their students. He said “I liked that they focused more on your career than general education like math, reading, ext.” It was one of his top choices in colleges he would like to attend.

New School Rules

During this school year there have been many new rules. Some in which students disagree with such as dress code, pink passes, and doors being locked and more. However some students do agree with these rules. Here are their thoughts.

Many students love the new changes made for the doors. A lot of people are saying that the locked doors make them feel safe. However others are saying that locked doors are an inconvenience, and that they are a waste of time since the teacher has to stop the lesson to open the door or a student has to get up and let them in. Another new rule students dislike is the hall pass rule. The majority of students dislike the pink pass system because they feel it takes too long to write, and that E-Hall passes were more efficient. Student Cayman Adams says “They are really annoying because you can’t get back into class”. On the other hand many students think that having a pass you can carry around is  better than last year when you could get stopped and asked questions. This year you can show them the pass. Students also had a lot to say about the dress code this year. 90% of students say that the dress code is stricter on girls than it is on boys and that they think it’s unfair. Student Kelly Anderson says “Girls get dress-coded more than guys because the dress code has been targeting girls over guys”. Others say that the dress code is less strict and feel that teachers aren’t saying anything about their clothing.

The majority of teachers dislike the new door rule. Some say it’s distracting to stop what they are teaching to open the door. Others say they feel more comfortable with the doors being locked, and some teachers love the new pink passes. They say it's more convenient and in the words of Mrs Cummings “They should have been enforced sooner.”

The rules change every year, coming and going such as students. Together we can only hope that the new rules of our school will not take away from students self expression or creativity, and make them feel safer in the halls of our school.

Memorable Ensemble 

The Student Section

In school everyone looks forward to the homecoming game, where everyone stands in the student section cheering on their fellow classmates. During the homecoming game the student section always is loud to try to encourage the players as much as possible. Almost every year the students throw colorful powder during halftime. 

Cole Marksberry was in the student section. He said the game was very exciting, lots of fun and interesting to watch. He said once the game entered the second half of the game it got even better! The reason Cole loves to be in the student section is because he enjoys “laughing, dancing and hanging out with his friends” as he says. Cole states “I like that the band is near the student section because they help us get pumped up!”. He also says the cheerleaders were being very “loud and proud”. He really enjoyed the concession stand at the game as well, he ordered Nachos and Cheese and said they were “amazing!”. Cole really enjoyed being at the game and participating in the student section he states “The energy for Friday was electric!”. 

Cash “Harrison” Millspaugh was also in the student section and more than likely stood out to others. This was his first time experiencing a homecoming game while being in highschool because he is a freshman this year. He agrees that the second half of the game was very interesting. He states that the student section and crowd was so full he and his friends couldn’t leave their seats or they would get taken. He thinks that the student section is good at helping to cheer on and encourage their classmates. While doing the powder throw during halftime Cash states that it was difficult to get the powder out of the bag it was in. 

Overall both students had a great time during the homecoming game on Friday night. Cash is looking forward to years ahead as sadly this will be Cole’s last year getting to experience the student section because he is a senior this year.

Culinary Field Trip

On October 5th the Culinary 1 classes took a trip to Jungle Jims in Fairfield, Ohio. On this trip they were able to get a tour of the entire building. Jungle Jims has 200,000 square feet of shopping space and more than 180,000 products to choose from. There are over 70 different countries represented at Jungle Jims with a wide variety of foods, drinks, and other snacks and candies. For example; there was camel meat, kangaroo meat, alligator meat, a variety of jelly beans, different types of bugs, and strange sodas like grass, dirt, ranch, buffalo wing and many more. When the students arrived at Jungle Jims they began their tours, it was an amazing experience stated by multiple students. After their tours were finished they enjoyed some Cici's pizza, and after they were finished eating they were able to go shopping for whatever they wanted or could afford. On the bus ride back everyone shared their items and chatted away. They arrived back at school right around 3:00 to get ready to head home.

Oklahoma!

This year’s school musical was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s, “Oklahoma!” directed by Jennings County High School’s choir teacher, Lindsey Frey. 

“I absolutely love putting a show together from start to finish,” says Frey, “It is like an adrenaline rush for me.  To see something start from auditions and not knowing the part, to developing the character into having their own personality and emotions, and then to put it in front of an audience and see how they react to the hard work that the cast and crew have put in is just an amazing thing.” 

Lindsey Frey chose this musical as this year’s show because it has a special place in her heart. “Oklahoma!” is one of her favorite musicals as it was the first one she saw live, and it was the first that she performed on stage in college.

The leads of this year’s show were Kaitlyn Davies as Laurey Williams and Bryson Webster as Curly McLain. Davies challenged herself this year to expand her vocal range from alto to soprano for her role and developing her character as Laurey. 

“I feel very good about my overall performance, and I hope that everyone feels the same way,” she says.

Webster also had some insight to his performance.

“I like performing; it's another way to express myself outside of the other activities I'm involved in,” states Webster. 

Webster really bonded with other cast members and the pit crew by being a part of the “Oklahoma!” production, and thinks it was an amazing show.

While picking the leads for the show, there was a panel of seven people holding auditions who looked for vocal and acting ability in the first round, then observed how different people interacted with each other, and how well others sound singing together for the duets in the second round. 

The director, Frey, could not be more proud of how the show came out. 

“Everything was great,” she says. “From the sets built by Mr. Day’s students and painted by the National Art Honor Society, all the way to the pit, crew, and cast.” 

Students and adults say that the show was great, and that everyone who was a part of it should be very proud of themselves.